At what point...

Did you know next month is the 50th anniversary of 'On the Road'?
You need not necessarily care about the book, its plot or characters - there are enough of us for that. But it is a book that has had a lasting impact. It captured a zeitgeist at the perfect moment, it created the Beat Movement.
As Kerouac's publisher said; the night before 'On the Road' was published, Kerouac went to sleep for the last time as a nobody.

But what does it mean? Did it change anything? Does it still change people? Or has this book, like others (Hemingway, Joyce, Miller et al) become a tedious right of passage for the next generation of angry young men. (where are they all these days?)

I hope not, last night I picked up 'Tender is the Night' and began reading it again. I haven't tried to read 'On the Road' for many years (my preference is for 'The Vanity of Duloz') it is a difficult book to read. There is no coherent plot to speak of, don't bother trying the Wikipedia approach, it doesn't map out well and I suggest its an anathema to the spirit of the novel the try and apply a plot arc.
Perhaps it is a feeling you get from the book. The idea of living for sake of living. I'm typing this from my desk at work and the sensation of a lost summer is strong. But I digress, from a literary perspective 'On the Road' is an okay book. From a cultural perspective, its a milestone.
From my perspective, I believe I've lost touch with people in that book. I say this as nothing bad or good, I've become indifferent to the spirit it once evoked.

On the other hand, 'Tender is the Night' is right up my current alley.